The Ball Starts Rolling

[Edited July 26, 2022]

[This chapter contains text from the source materials, I own nothing except my add-ons and interpretations of the text]

Hazel's POV

Hazel imagined that this might be similar to how it felt to introduce two nuclear bombs. Now she just had to wait and see which one exploded first. Until that morning, Nico had been the most powerful demigod she knew. Now it looked like that spot was threatened by this Son of Neptune, whoever he was.

The others at Camp Jupiter saw Nico as a traveling oddball, about as harmless as the fauns but she knew better. He may not look like much, but Nico had his foot in both the land of the living and the Underworld, which made him a force of nature. While she hadn't grown up with Nico and hadn't known him for very long, she could tell that Nico was more dangerous than Reyna, or Octavian, or maybe even Jason. He was powerful, without a doubt, but even he seemed to be daunted by Percy.

At first, when she had seen Percy stumbling up the highway with the old lady in his arms, the daughter of Pluto had thought he might be a god in disguise. Even though he was beaten up, dirty, and stooped with exhaustion, he'd had an aura of power. He had the good looks of a Roman god, with sea-green eyes and wind-blown black hair. It hadn't seemed so far-fetched that he may be a God sent to test their loyalty. She'd heard myths like this: a kid with an old lady begs for shelter, and when the rude mortals refuse-- boom, they get turned into banana slugs.

She had no desire to become a banana slug, so against her better judgment, she ordered Frank not to fire on him. Then Percy had controlled the river and destroyed the gorgons. He'd turned a pen into a bronze sword. He'd stirred up the whole camp with talk about the graecus-- The Greek. A son of the sea god... just as it had been foretold.

Long ago, Hazel had been told that a descendant of Neptune would save her from her curse. Seeing this boy now, completely lost and alone, she wondered if he could really be the one the gods had meant. How could he save me when it looked like he could barely take care of himself? He was so shrouded in mystery and she vowed that she would stay near him in order to try and figure him out. There was something strange going on here if even Nico was wary of him.

Percy and Nico stiffly shook hands. They studied each other warily while Hazel fought the urge to run. If these two busted out the magic swords, things would get ugly. Though Nico didn't appear scary-- at least not as scary as Percy-- Hazel knew he could hold his own. When he had first shown up, he had looked sloppy in his rumpled black clothes that basically hung off his frame. Now, though he looked much more formidable. His clothes were still rumpled, though the material at least looked to be high-quality. His hair, as always, looked like he'd just rolled out of bed, but there was an olive glow back in his skin and he had built up muscle mass. The legionnaire knew that he was staying with some mortals, and they seemed to be good to him. This was the healthiest she had ever seen him.

At least, she thought he was living with mortals, though the amount of time he spent traveling was starting to make her wonder. She knew that he didn't stay in the Underworld as he claimed since the time he brought her back was the first time she had ever seen him in that part of the Underworld. Hazel also knew that he didn't stay with Ivy, since he hadn't stayed there during the time that she had been with him. Nico didn't stay at camp, either. He refused to, actually. He never stayed longer than he needed to and he always seemed to be in a hurry to leave. He had taken that phone call that he claimed was from the mortal family, so maybe he was telling the truth. There was so much about Nico that she didn't know, yet she felt like he knew everything about her.

She remembered when she first met him. The first time Hazel saw him draw that black sword of his, she almost laughed. The way he called it "Stygian iron," all serious-like. He'd looked ridiculous. This scrawny white boy was no fighter. She certainly hadn't believed we were related. Though he had changed her mind about that quick enough. Percy scowled.

"I-I know you." Nico raised his eyebrows in a way that didn't at all soothe her nerves. It was just so unlike the boy she had been getting to know these last few months.

"Do you?" He looked at her as if wanting an explanation. She hesitated. Something about Nico's reaction wasn't right. He was trying hard to act casual, but when he had first seen Percy, she had noticed his momentary look of panic. Nico already knew Percy, she was almost sure of it. Why was he pretending otherwise?

"Um...Percy's lost his memory," Hazel told him what had happened since Percy had arrived at the gates.

"So, Nico..." She continued carefully, "I thought...you know, you travel all over. Maybe you've met demigods like Percy before, or..." Nico's expression turned as dark as Tartarus, though she couldn't understand why. She got the message: Drop it. Percy seemed to notice the look, too because he frowned.

"This story about Gaea's army," Nico said. "You warned Reyna?" Percy nodded.

"Who is Gaea, anyway?" Her mouth went dry and she suppressed a shiver. Just hearing that name after all this time... It was all she could do to keep her knees from buckling. Hazel remembered a woman's soft sleepy voice, a glowing cave, and feeling her lungs fill with black oil. She could remember the life leaving her body as her mother clutched her in her arms.

"She's the earth goddess." Nico glanced at the ground as if it might be listening. "The oldest goddess of all. She's in a deep sleep most of the time, but she hates the gods and their children."

"Mother Earth...is evil?" Percy asked. He looked at the ground as well.

"Very," Nico said gravely. "She convinced her son, the Titan Kronos-um, I mean, Saturn-to kill his dad, Uranus, and take over the world. The Titans ruled for a long time. Then the Titans' children, the Olympian gods, overthrew them." Nico had a tendency to use the Greek names too, which she found strange. Just like Percy.

"That story seems familiar," Percy sounded surprised like an old memory had partially surfaced. "But I don't think I ever heard the part about Gaea." Nico shrugged.

"She got mad when the gods took over. She took a new husband-- Tartarus, the spirit of the abyss-- and gave birth to a race of giants. They tried to destroy Mount Olympus, but the gods finally beat them. At least...the first time."

"The first time?" Percy repeated. Nico glanced at her. He probably hadn't meant to make her feel guilty, but she couldn't help it. If Percy knew the truth about her, and the horrible things she'd done...

"Last summer," Nico continued, "Saturn tried to make a comeback. There was a second Titan war. The Romans at Camp Jupiter stormed his headquarters on Mount Othrys, across the bay, and destroyed his throne. Saturn disappeared-" He hesitated, watching Percy's face. Hazel got the distinct feeling that her brother was nervous that more of Percy's memory might come back. Nico definitely knew Percy, and he knew him well enough to know what might trigger his memory, at least. She wanted nothing more than to drag her brother away and force him to tell her what she knew but she restrained herself. She didn't know much, but she knew that Nico had his reasons. She'd let him tell her on his own time.

"Um, anyway," Nico continued, "Saturn probably faded back to the abyss. We all thought the war was over. Now it looks like the Titans' defeat stirred up Gaea. She's starting to wake. I've heard reports of giants being reborn. If they mean to challenge the gods again, they'll probably start by destroying the demigods...." Hazel vaguely wondered who had given him these reports. Were there more loner demigods out there? People like him? People like Percy? If so, how many more?

"You've told Reyna this?" Percy asked.

"Of course." Nico's jaw tensed. "The Romans don't trust me. That's why I was hoping she'd listen to you. Children of Pluto...well, no offense, but they think we're even worse than children of Neptune. We're bad luck."

"They let Hazel stay here," Percy noted.

"That's different," Nico said. He was referring to her power base. His powers grew from the spheres of death that father controlled while mine sprang from his control over the riches in the Earth.

"Why?"

"Percy," Hazel cut in, knowing that Nico didn't like to talk about his powers, and she certainly didn't, "look, the Giants aren't the worst problem. Even ... even Gaea isn't the worst problem. The thing you noticed about the gorgons, how they wouldn't die, that's our biggest worry." She looked at Nico, who was watching her intently. We were getting dangerously close to her own secret now, but for some reason, she found that she trusted Percy. Maybe because he was also an outsider, maybe because he'd saved Frank at the river. He deserved to know what they were facing.

"Nico and I," Hazel said carefully, "we think that what's happening is...Death isn't-" Before she could finish, a shout came from down the hill. Frank jogged toward them, wearing his jeans, purple camp shirt, and denim jacket. His hands were covered with grease from cleaning weapons. As it did every time she saw Frank, Hazel's heart performed a little skip-beat tap-dance-which irritated her to no end. Sure, he was a good friend -one of the only people at camp who didn't treat her as if she had a contagious disease. But she didn't like him in that way. she couldn't let herself.

There were many shallow reasons that she could find to not like him. Frank is three years older, and he wasn't exactly Prince Charming, with that strange combination of a baby face and bulky wrestler's body. He looked like a cuddly koala bear with muscles. Also the fact that everyone always tried to pair them up-the two biggest losers at camp! You guys are perfect for each other--just made her all the more determined not to like him. But, unfortunately, her heart wasn't with the program. It went nuts whenever Frank was around. Hazel hadn't felt like that since ... well, since Sammy.

Stop it, she thought. You're here for one reason and it isn't to get a new boyfriend. Besides, Frank didn't know her secret. If he knew, he wouldn't be so nice. He reached the shrine.

"Hey, Nico..."

"Frank." Nico smiled. He seemed to find Frank amusing, maybe because Frank was the only one at camp who wasn't uneasy around the children of Pluto.

"Reyna sent me to get Percy," Frank said. "Did Octavian accept you?"

"Yeah," Percy said. "He slaughtered my panda." Just like Nico did sometimes, Percy forgot to give any context.

"He...Oh. The augury? Yeah, teddy bears must have nightmares about that guy. But you're in! We need to get you cleaned up before evening muster." It was only then that she realized the sun was getting low over the hills. How had the day gone so fast?

"You're right," Hazel said. "We'd better-"

"Frank," Nico interrupted, "why don't you take Percy down? Hazel and I will be along soon." Uh-oh, she thought. Hazel tried not to look anxious.

"That's- that's a good idea," she managed. "Go ahead, guys. We'll catch up." Percy looked at Nico one more time, as though he was still trying to place a memory.

"I'd like to talk with you some more. I can't shake the feeling-"

"Sure," Nico agreed. "Later. I'll be staying overnight." He seemed to make the decision on the spot.

"You will?" She blurted without thinking. Percy and Frank caught her surprise but they didn't acknowledge it. The campers were going to love that-the son of Neptune and the son of Pluto arriving on the same day. Now all they needed was some black cats and broken mirrors.

"Go on, Percy," Nico said. "Settle in." He turned to her and she got a sinking feeling that the worst part of her day was yet to come. "My sister and I need to talk."

"You know him, don't you," she accused as we sat together on the roof of Pluto's shrine, which was covered with bones and diamonds. As far as she knew, the bones had always been there. The diamonds were her fault. It was another side effect of her curse. If she sat anywhere too long, or just got anxious, they started popping up all around her like mushrooms after a rain. Several million dollars worth of stones glittered on the roof, but fortunately, the other campers wouldn't touch them. They knew better than to steal from temples-- especially Pluto's-- and the fauns never came up here.

She shuddered involuntarily as she remembered the close call with Don that afternoon. If she hadn't moved quickly and snatched that diamond off the road... she didn't want to think about it. Hazel took the diamond out of her pocket and tossed it into the pile. She didn't need another death on her conscience. This place was supposed to be her fresh start but she often felt that she had just picked up life where she had left off. She wasn't sure that any of the trouble Nico had gone through to get her here was worth it. What difference was she really making?

Nico swung his feet like a little kid. His Stygian iron sword lay by his side, next to her spatha. He gazed across the valley, where construction crews were working in the Field of Mars, building fortifications for tonight's games. She really should be down there, but she felt that whatever he was going to tell her was more important. Camp duties could wait.

"Percy Jackson." He said the name like an incantation. "Hazel, I have to be careful what I say. Important things are at work here. Some secrets need to stay secret. You of all people-you should understand that." Her cheeks felt hot, but the rest of her body shivered.

"But he's not like...like me?"

"No," Nico said. "I'm sorry I can't tell you more. I can't interfere. Percy has to find his own way at this camp."

"Is he dangerous?" She asked. Nico managed a dry smile. There seemed to be history there that she would never fully understand. Whoever this Percy was, he was important to Nico in some way. Hazel desperately wished that there weren't so many things that Nico kept to himself. she had to force the temptation to strangle the information out of him down.

"Very. To his enemies. But he's not a threat to Camp Jupiter. You can trust him."

"Like I trust you," She said bitterly. Nico's sword disappeared as he twisted his skull ring. Around him, bones began to quiver as if they were trying to form a new skeleton. Whenever he got moody, Nico had that effect on the dead, kind of like her curse. It vaguely occurred to her that he could have very well been the reason the bones were there. The thought almost made her smile. Between them, we represented Pluto's two spheres of control: death and riches. Sometimes she thought Nico had gotten the better end of the deal. Then she would reconsider. We were both cursed in our own way. Death followed us wherever we went.

"Look, I know this is hard," Nico said. "But you have a second chance. You can make things right."

"Nothing about this is right," she said. "If they find out the truth about me-"

"They won't," Nico promised. "They'll call a quest soon. They have to. You'll make me proud. Trust me, Bi-" He caught himself, but she knew what he'd almost called her: Bianca. Nico's real sister-the one he'd grown up with. Her heart ached and she struggled to keep her face blank.

Nico might care about her, but she would never be able to replace Bianca. She was simply the next best thing-- a consolation prize from the Underworld. She tried not to feel bitter. She tried to place herself in his shoes but she really couldn't. She wished that she knew if he loved her because she was his sister or if he loved her as a replacement for what he once had. Though she wasn't even sure how she felt about him either.

Hazel was grateful, of course. It would have saved him a lot of time and trouble if he had just left her in the Underworld. He had nothing to gain from bringing her back. Plus he had done so much for her once they had arrived in the land of the living. He gave her two different homes and a purpose. A way to redeem herself and try for a better outcome. He had given her so much without ever asking for anything in return. Just her company. Maybe he isn't perfect, but neither is she. We are all each other has.

"I'm sorry," he said. Her mouth tasted like metal as if gold nuggets were popping up under her tongue. Though it hurt, she couldn't hold this against him. He had lost so much. We both had.

"Then it's true about Death? Is Alcyoneus to blame?"

"I think so," Nico said. "It's getting bad in the Underworld. Dad's going crazy trying to keep things under control. From what Percy said about the gorgons, things are getting worse up here, too. But look, that's why you're here. All that stuff in your past-you can make something good come out of it. You belong at Camp Jupiter." That sounded so ridiculous, she almost laughed.

Then the darkness started closing in.

Nico's POV

It was happening again. Hazel had been pulled into a flashback and he could only wait for it to end. Her face scrunched up and he gripped her shoulders, hoping that he may be able to jostle her back to reality. Nico shook her shoulders roughly and her head lolled lifelessly.

"Hazel?" he shook her again. "Come on Hazel. Snap out of it! It's not real. You're not back there! Focus on me!" He pleaded with her. Diamonds bubbled from the ground and poured off the roof. He was eternally grateful that they were the only ones around to witness this. A waterfall of diamonds would have been very hard to explain.

"Hazel!" he shouted. Hazel's eyes shot open, her gold pupils filled with pain. She took a deep breath to help calm herself. he knew she hated the blackouts and he knew she was trying her best to keep it together. Nico believed that the flashbacks were a side effect of her time in the Underworld. A very unfortunate side effect. He needed her to stay in camp so that they didn't happen when she was in the middle of a battle or something. However, he knew that they would call a quest to try and find the reason that death had stopped and he had a feeling that Hazel needed to be there.

"You did it again." Hazel blinked. More diamonds had surfaced around her, and she was crying.

"S-sorry," she murmured.

"Don't be," he waved it off. "Where were you?"

"My mother's apartment. The day we moved." he nodded as he could understand her history better than most people could since he was also a kid from the 1900s. The son of Hades had been born only a few years after Hazel, and had been locked away in a magic hotel for decades.

"You have to work on controlling those memories," he warned her. "If a flashback like that happens when you're in combat-" he didn't have to complete the thought.

"I know," she said. "I'm trying." Nico squeezed her hand. The physical affection felt foreign and uncomfortable, but he hoped that it would have the desired effect.

"It's okay. I think it's a side effect from...you know, your time in the Underworld. Hopefully, it'll get easier." Nico tried to reassure her but he didn't think it worked.

"I can't go north again," Hazel said. "Nico, if I have to go back to where it happened-"

"You'll be fine," he promised. "You'll have friends this time. Percy Jackson- he's got a role to play in this. You can sense that, can't you? He's a good person to have at your side." Hazel seemed to consider this for a few minutes. Hazel would be alright as long as Percy was with her. She was stronger than Bianca, with higher moral standards. She knew better than to open herself up to a curse.

"Where did he come from?" she asked. "Why do the ghosts call him the Greek?" Before he could respond, horns blew across the river. The legionnaires were gathering for evening muster.

"We'd better get down there," he said, relieved to be saved from this line of questioning. "I have a feeling tonight's war games are going to be interesting."

[I know that Nico went back to the assembly with Hazel, not Reyna in the books but just work with me here.]

The children of death parted ways as Hazel went to roll call and Nico set off to find Reyna. He had no idea what he was going to tell her in his report. Maybe: oh yeah! That's my cousin! He's a greek from Camp Half-blood! Do you want to know the GPS coordinates? On his way, he placed a call to Bruce, who picked it up on the second ring.

"Nico?" He answered. There was shushing in the background.

"Yeah, it's me. It turns out that this is something that requires my full attention. I will have to stay here for a while longer. A day or two at least."

"Why? What's going on?" He was getting some odd looks from the other demigods as he passed. Nico guess phones weren't really commonplace here either. He turned into an empty alleyway to get out of sight of prying eyes.

"He popped up, just like I thought he would. He's here, in California."

"Percy?" Bruce clarified.

"Yeah. The leadership here is suspicious of him so I need to make sure that he makes it through tonight. They're going to send him on a quest, I'm pretty sure. They need to free death so that the monsters and people will stay dead." Nico explained, realizing that he didn't think he'd ever told them that Thanatos was captured.

"Free death? What are you talking about? You aren't going on a quest, are you?" Bruce clarified.

"No, I won't be. Don't worry. I just need to make sure that everything goes alright."

"Call me tomorrow." Bruce insisted.

"I will. Promise." He hung up and slipped the phone into his pocket. Then he shadow traveled the rest of the way to the Principia where he found Reyna waiting.

"Good, you're back. Let's walk and talk." Reyna said as she saw him. Nico followed along beside her as we made our way towards the agora.

"I recognized him. He's a loner, mostly. Though there are a few people he is seen with frequently." He lied. She didn't have her greyhounds with her, thank the gods.

"Who?"

"I don't know. I'm not even sure if they're demigods. I don't remember them being in orange shirts either. He definitely did.

"What do you think it means that he has appeared to us now?" Reyna was asking all the right questions and he felt bad for having to lie to her. This was all going to come back to bite him when the two camps came together later. If he lived that long.

"I think that it means that something big is about to happen. I don't believe in coincidences." Reyna didn't look surprised.

"What do you know about why the gorgons weren't dying?" Nico grabbed her by the arm and stopped her where we were. She raised her hand to slap him away but she hesitated when she glanced at his face.

"Are you sure you want to know?" Reyna eyed him coldly. Her stare was battle-hardened and left no room for doubt, she wanted to know.

"Yes." We resumed walking as he told her everything he knew about Thanatos' disappearance and that he believed him to be captured. The demigod told her about the doors of death from Octavian's prophecy and how he had discovered that their location was in Tartarus. Nico told her about the reports of the giants rising and the rebellion of nature all over the globe. He told her his theory the Gaea was rising, using the giants to take over the world like the last time. Reyna was quiet for a long time after he finished and he was worried that she didn't believe him.

"Why didn't you tell me this earlier?" she said at last.

"I didn't think you'd believe me-- that anyone would. I am a child of Pluto, after all. And until now, I wasn't sure." Reyna pondered this. The agora came into view.

"From now on, I want to know everything you think you know. Son of Pluto or not." She spoke calmly but with authority. "Do I make myself clear? Stay tonight, I will want to discuss this further tomorrow."

"Yes, Reyna." Together they joined the assembly. Reyna took her cloak from a passing guard and draped it over her shoulders. Her greyhounds stood by a brown Pegasus, which Reyna deftly mounted and paced back and forth around the arena. Nico spotted Percy sitting uncomfortably at the center of attention. He had finally gotten a bath but was picking at his new purple shirt. The son of Hades decided to stand beside him so that he could grab him and shadow travel away quickly if need be.

Hazel ran past Reyna to her spot in the legion ignoring Reyna's chastisement. She shouted present just as her name was called. Nico caught her eyes and she looked troubled. She shook her head meaning that she would tell him later. Nico brought his attention back to the matter at hand, Percy's admittance to the legion. When they asked for letters Percy had to admit that he didn't have any. Of course, he didn't; he didn't know anyone. Reyna glanced at the ambassador of Pluto and he raised his eyebrows in question.

Then they asked for a sponsor and Frank was the first to offer but he was shot down because he wasn't a full member of the legion. Hazel stepped up in his place instead and he nodded to her. The fifth cohort reluctantly claimed Percy and then they disbanded to prep for war games. Nico made his way over to Hazel alongside Percy. He couldn't help but smile at how everything had played out. It was better than he had hoped.

"Good job, Sis. That took guts, standing for him." Someone handed Percy a probatio nameplate which he strung on his camp necklace.

Third Person POV

"So." Dakota burped, waving his goblet. "Welcome to the Percy party." He frowned. "Party, Percy. Whatever."

"Um, thanks," Percy said, but his attention was focused on Nico. "I was wondering if we could talk, you know...about where I might have seen you before."

"Sure," Nico said a little too quickly. "The thing is, I spend most of my time in the Underworld. So unless I met you there somehow-" Dakota belched.

"Ambassador from Pluto, they call him. Reyna's never sure what to do with this guy when he visits. You should have seen her face when he showed up with Hazel, asking Reyna to take her in. Um, no offense."

"None taken." Nico seemed relieved to change the topic. "Dakota was really helpful, standing for Hazel." Dakota blushed.

"Yeah, well...She seemed like a good kid. Turned out I was right. Last month, when she saved me from, uh, you know."

"Oh, man!" Frank looked up from his fish and chips. "Percy, you should have seen her! That's how Hazel got her stripe. The unicorns decided to stampede-"

"It was nothing," Hazel said.

"Nothing?" Frank protested. "Dakota and Nico would've gotten trampled! You stood right in front of them, shooed them away, and saved their hides. I've never seen anything like it." Hazel bit her lip. She didn't like to talk about it, and she felt uncomfortable, the way Frank made her sound like a hero.

In truth, she'd been most afraid that the unicorns would hurt themselves in their panic. Their horns were precious metal-- silver and gold-- so she'd managed to turn them aside simply by concentrating, steering the animals by their horns and guiding them back to the stables. It had gotten her a full place in the legion, but it had also started rumors about her strange powers-rumors that reminded her of the bad old days. Percy studied her. Those sea-green eyes made her feel unsettled.

"Did you and Nico grow up together?" the son of the sea asked.

"No," Nico answered for her. "I found out that Hazel was my sister only recently. She's from New Orleans." That was true, of course, but not the whole truth. Nico let people think he'd stumbled upon her in modern New Orleans and brought her to camp. It was easier than telling the real story. Hazel had tried to pass herself off as a modern kid. It wasn't easy. Thankfully, demigods didn't use a lot of technology at camp. Their powers tended to make electronic gadgets go haywire. But the first time she went on furlough to Berkeley, she had nearly had a stroke. Televisions, computers, iPods, the Internet...It made her glad to get back to the world of ghosts, unicorns, and gods. That seemed much less of a fantasy than the twenty-first century. Nico was still talking about the children of Pluto.

"There aren't many of us," he said, "so we have to stick together. When I found Hazel-"

"You have other sisters?" Percy asked, almost as if he knew the answer. She could see Nico tense and she wondered again when he and Nico had met, and what her brother was hiding. How did Percy know, consciously or subconsciously, about Bianca?

"One," Nico admitted. "But she died. I saw her spirit a few times in the Underworld, except that the last time I went down there..." To bring her back, Hazel thought, though Nico didn't say that. "She was gone." Nico's voice turned hoarse.

"She used to be in Elysium-like, the Underworld paradise-but she chose to be reborn into a new life. Now I'll never see her again. I was just lucky to find Hazel...in New Orleans, I mean." Dakota grunted.

"Unless you believe the rumors. Not saying that I do." Nico's face twisted in annoyance, and he looked like he was about to defend her.

"Rumors?" Percy asked. From across the room, Don the faun yelled,

"Hazel!" Hazel had never been so glad to see the faun. He wasn't allowed in camp, but of course, he always managed to get in. He was working his way toward their table, grinning at everybody, sneaking food off plates, and pointing at campers: "Hey! Call me!" A flying pizza smacked him in the head, and he disappeared behind a couch. Then he popped up, still grinning, and made his way over. "My favorite girl!" He smelled like a wet goat wrapped in old cheese. He leaned over their couches and checked out their food. "Say, new kid, you going to eat that?" Percy frowned.

"Aren't fauns vegetarian?"

"Not the cheeseburger, man! The plate!" He sniffed Percy's hair. "Hey...what's that smell?"

"Don!" Hazel said. "Don't be rude." 

"No, man, I just-" Their house god Vitellius shimmered into existence, standing half embedded in Frank's couch.

"Fauns in the dining hall! What are we coming to? Centurion Dakota, do your duty!"

"I am," Dakota grumbled into his goblet. "I'm having dinner!" Don was still sniffing around Percy.

"Man, you've got an empathy link with a faun!" Percy leaned away from him.

"A what?"

"An empathy link! It's real faint, like somebody's suppressed it, but-"

"I know what!" Nico stood suddenly.

"Hazel, how about we give you and Frank time to get Percy oriented? Dakota and I can visit the praetor's table. Don and Vitellius, you come too. We can discuss strategies for the war games."

"Strategies for losing?" Dakota muttered.

"Death Boy is right!" Vitellius said. "This legion fights worse than we did in Judea, and that was the first time we lost our eagle. Why, if I were in charge-"

"Could I just eat the silverware first?" Don asked.

"Let's go!" Nico stood and grabbed Don and Vitellius by the ears. Nobody but Nico could actually touch the Lares. Vitellius spluttered with outrage as he was dragged off to the praetor's table.

"Ow!" Don protested. "Man, watch the 'fro!"

"Come on, Dakota!" Nico called over his shoulder. The centurion got up reluctantly. He wiped his mouth-- uselessly since it was permanently stained red.

"Back soon." He shook all over, like a dog trying to get dry. Then he staggered away, his goblet sloshing.

"What was that about?" Percy asked. "And what's wrong with Dakota?" Frank sighed.

"He's okay. He's a son of Bacchus, the wine god. He's got a drinking problem." Percy's eyes widened.

"You let him drink wine?"

"Gods, no!" Hazel said. "That would be a disaster. He's addicted to red Kool-Aid. Drinks it with three times the normal sugar, and he's already ADHD-you know, attention-deficit/hyperactive. One of these days, his head is going to explode." Percy looked over at the praetor's table. Most of the senior officers were in deep conversation with Reyna. Nico and his two captives, Don and Vitellius, stood on the periphery. Dakota was running back and forth along a line of stacked shields, banging his goblet on them like they were a xylophone.

"ADHD," Percy said. "You don't say." Hazel tried not to laugh.

"Well...most demigods are. Or dyslexic. Just being a demigod means that our brains are wired differently. Like you- you said you had trouble reading."

"Are you guys that way too?" Percy asked.

"I don't know," Hazel admitted. "Maybe. Back in my day, they just called kids like us 'lazy.'" Percy frowned.

"Back in your day?" Hazel cursed herself. Luckily for her, Frank spoke up:

"I wish I was ADHD or dyslexic. All I got is lactose intolerance." Percy grinned.

"Seriously?" Frank might've been the silliest demigod ever, but Hazel thought he was cute when he pouted. His shoulders slumped. "And I love ice cream, too...." Percy laughed. Hazel couldn't help joining in. It was good to sit at dinner and actually feel like she was among friends.

"Okay, so tell me," Percy said, "why is it bad to be in the Fifth Cohort? You guys are great." The compliment made Hazel's toes tingle. "It's...complicated."

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